


take my hand in secret

by damapintada



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Fire Nation (Avatar), Fluff, Marriage, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding Fluff, Zutara Quote Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27023164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damapintada/pseuds/damapintada
Summary: Fire Lord Zuko and Master Katara have three separate weddings.No one knows about the first one except them, though.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 201
Collections: Zutara Quote Challenge 2020





	take my hand in secret

**Author's Note:**

> this is a late (and super self-indulgent) entry for the zutara quote challenge! this fic was (veeery loosely) based on this quote:
> 
> _"The world moves for love; it kneels before it in awe." - The Village_

The voice of a droning Fire Sage carried throughout the temple, where dignitaries and representatives from all over had gathered to watch the wedding of the decade.

“...this union between Fire Lord Zuko and Master Katara is symbolic of the great strides our world has made since the end of the Hundred Year War, truly, a more complementary match could not have been possible,” here, the sage paused with a flourish that many in the audience mistook for ending his speech, which at this point had been going on for about twenty minutes. 

It was highly unusual for traditional Fire Nation weddings to have remarks made by the sages presiding over the ceremony, but as this was a royal wedding, and an international one, no less, one of the Head Sages thought it fitting to share a speech over the importance and meaningfulness of this particular union. 

However, no one anticipated the length at which this Sage, an old and wrinkled man with a monotone voice, would go on about a Fire Nation man and Water Tribe woman getting married. 

The Fire Sage took a deep breath, before starting back up. A few audible groans were heard from the crowd. (One of them was most definitely Sokka’s.) 

“Water is the element of change, and as such—” 

Zuko and Katara sat kneeling in front of the Sage, who stood in front of a large shrine to Agni. At this point, they had long since tuned out whatever he was saying, and though they faced the shrine, their faces were turned to each other, their hands clasped together. 

Any other couple would be feeling anxiety at how long the ceremony was taking, perhaps somewhat impatient to be declared husband and wife already. However, Zuko and Katara were smiling, their eyes only for each other and not a care in the world. 

They knew that a royal wedding in the Fire Nation with as many political implications as theirs would turn out something like this, and had expected this outcome. 

But more importantly, they didn’t care because this wasn’t their first wedding. 

It wasn’t even their second, either. 

Actually, they’d been married for about eight months already, and they were the only ones who knew.

* * *

  
  
  


_Caldera City - 9 months earlier_

Katara let out a huff as she looked over the stack of papers deposited on her desk by one of her attendants. Instead of something important, like maybe blueprints for a new healing clinic she was working on building in the former Earth Kingdom colonies, which was something she actually _cared_ about, it was guest lists for the reception to her and Zuko’s Fire Nation wedding, to be held in the capital city in eight months’ time. 

She ran a hand through her hair, now unruly and long since fallen out of its usual braid, as her eyes ran down the page of mostly unfamiliar names, alongside titles, where they were from, and whatever tidbit of information someone had deemed imperative for her to know. 

Katara let out a sigh. She loved Zuko dearly, and she couldn’t wait to be able to call him her husband, but all the elaborate planning for what should have been a simple spiritual ceremony was starting to grate on her. When they began seriously dating, she knew what expectations came with becoming partner to the Fire Lord, but this seemed excessive. 

Her only saving grace was that their Water Tribe wedding in the South Pole would be a month before their Fire Nation one. Katara’s family had told her not to worry about preparations, and she was relieved to relinquish control, knowing that it would be in capable hands. 

Taking one last look at the papers, she shoved them aside and stood up. 

“Let me go get some practice to take my mind off this,” she muttered to herself as set out to the training courts to get some waterbending in. 

— 

After an hour well spent going through her forms, Katara returned to the dining chambers where she and Zuko usually had their meals just in time for dinner. He was already seated at the table, waiting for her with a smile.

“Hey,” he greeted her, taking in her sweaty and disheveled state, “had to let some steam off before dinner?” 

She leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek before taking a seat beside him. 

“Yeah,” she replied with another sigh, grabbing a pair of chopsticks to start eating. “Just was a little stressed about something,” she said by way of explanation. 

“Want to talk about it?” Zuko asked, still watching her closely. 

“It’s silly,” she said, looking down at the food on her plate, a rather simple meal of cold glass noodles with vegetables. She dragged a stick through the noodles, but didn't make a move to eat them. He took a bite from his own plate, but continued to keep an eye on her. 

“It’s just—” Katara started, and she looked up to meet Zuko’s gaze. “It’s about the wedding.” 

His eyebrow raises in surprise, clearly not expecting that to be the source of Katara’s frustration. 

“Are you having second thoughts about marrying me?” Zuko said, trying for a joking tone but something in his eyes belied the real panic that Katara’s ominous statement had just stoked inside of him. 

“No!” Katara blurted out, her hand rushing to grab his atop the table. “No, Zuko, it’s not that at all,” she said reassuringly. Her thumb brushed over the rough skin of his knuckles, and his expression softened. 

“What’s wrong, then?” he asked, his golden eyes holding a bit of concern.

“There’s just so much to plan, so many things that we need to go over, I wish we didn’t have to do all this…” she trailed off and squeezed his hand. “I just wish we could be married _now_ , you know? No huge wedding, only me and you, how it should be.” 

Zuko gave her hand a squeeze back, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a soft smile, as all the worry melted away. 

“I know exactly what you mean,” he murmured. He brought their entwined hands to his lips to press a kiss there before letting them fall. “Don’t worry,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “I’m gonna see what I can do.” 

Katara gave him a smile back, her mind put at ease by his simple act of reassurance, and she shifted her focus to the food, opting to change the subject. 

The rest of their dinner passed without incident, and soon Katara forgot all about her wedding planning woes. 

— 

“Katara, wake up,” Zuko called, and Katara felt his hand shaking her awake, taking her out of blissful sleep. 

“‘S too early,” she mumbled, burrowing her head further into her pillow, her voice hoarse with the remnants of her slumber. 

“I know it’s early, but I have a surprise for you. You have to get up though,” Zuko said, the hand that was shaking her now slowing to rub her shoulder soothingly. 

Katara shifted her head and cracked an eye open to peer at him. Her hair was a frazzled mess, her sheets were tangled around her body, and there was something crusty hanging off one of her eyelashes. 

Zuko couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up in his throat at the picture of a mess his fiancée made in the morning, his heart soaring with affection for her. 

“Fine,” she said, voice still raspy, “this better be good.” 

“It will be, I hope,” he said, still smiling fondly at her. “I have it on good authority that there’ll be custard bread for breakfast, too.”

With a huff, she sat up and stretched her arms out, blinking her eyes a few times. 

“Don’t try to bribe me,” she said, grumbling. Her gaze shifted idly to the bedroom window and then to Zuko. Then with a sudden realization, she whipped her bed back to the window again, not believing what she was seeing. 

“Spirits, Zuko! What _— the sun isn’t even out yet!”_ she exclaimed in disbelief.

“I know,” Zuko said, nodding. “I want to take you somewhere, but we have to leave by sunrise.”

“By sunrise? Why? Where are we going?” Katara looked at him in confusion.

He took hold of one of her hands, “Can you trust me with this?”

She was struck by the sincerity in his eyes, and she knew that whatever it was that Zuko had planned, he was intent on keeping it a surprise, at least for the moment. 

“Okay,” she conceded with a sigh. “Okay. Let me go get ready.” 

— 

They had left the palace under the cloak of darkness, unnoticed, to make their way down to the docks of Caldera. There, a small fishing boat that planned to leave by dawn waited for them. Zuko had paid handsomely for discretion from the captain of the small boat, who had taken one look at them in their flimsy disguises and promptly ignored them for the rest of the boat ride. 

( _“Katara, put this on before we leave.”_ _  
_

_“Are we sneaking out? If I’d known it was a mission—”_ _  
_

_“No, it’s not a mission, I just don’t want anyone to see where we’re going.”  
_

_“Zuko, are you kidnapping me?”_

_“What?! No—I mean, well— yes, kind of?”_

_“_ _Oh spirits…”)_

Several hours later, after much more grumbling, and many custard buns, Katara and Zuko found themselves on the shores of Ember Island at high noon. The captain of the fishing boat had been so kind as to drop them off directly at the dock of the royal beach house, and they were strolling along the beach, until Katara had enough of the suspense. 

She stopped in her tracks and rounded on him, eyes flashing with barely suppressed anger. “Zuko, I think I’ve been pretty patient with all this. Can you please tell me why you woke me up in the middle of the night to take me to Ember Island, of all places?”

He took a breath and closed his eyes briefly before taking both of her hands in his. For a moment, there was only silence between them and the rhythmic sounds of the waves breaking on the shore. 

“Katara,” he started, squeezing both her hands lightly. “Remember two weeks ago, during dinner, when you told me that you were frustrated about all the wedding stuff?” 

“Yes…?” she trailed off, the anger melting off her face and replaced with utter confusion. 

“Well, you also said that you wished that we could just be married already, so—” 

“Zuko, _what—?”_ she interjected, her mouth gaping open like a fish.

He held up a hand to stop her. “Wait. Let me finish, please.” 

She stared up at him in bewilderment but closed her mouth, allowing him to continue. 

He took her hands again before speaking. 

“When you said that, it got me to thinking that maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. So, I brought you here, hoping that maybe we could just have a ceremony all to ourselves…” He trailed off, but a small smile was playing on his lips. 

Katara stayed silent, not quite believing what she was hearing, and Zuko took that as his cue to go on. 

“I chose Ember Island because we could get away from everyone else without leaving the Fire Nation. I liked the idea of getting married to you where I first fell in love with you, too,” he said. By now the small smile had grown into a grin. 

Katara felt the pinpricks of tears at her eyes, overcome with a hurricane of emotions she couldn’t quite name over this unexpected gesture. 

“You idiot,” she said, her voice watery. “When you said you’d take care of it, I thought you meant hire more wedding planners, not for us to have a _secret wedding.”_ She swatted at his arm half-heartedly. 

“I know,” he said, laughing, “If you don’t want to though, it’s okay. We could just take these two days for ourselves and get married when we’re supposed to.” 

“No,” Katara shook her head, looking up at him and seeing how the sunlight that shone down on them highlighted the flecks of honey-gold in his eyes. “I meant what I said. Let’s do it.” 

She threw her arms around his neck in an embrace, and he pulled her in by the waist, holding her close. 

—

The beach house was empty, since they had arrived without letting anyone know they were coming. After getting settled in, Zuko and Katara found themselves in the kitchen, sharing a simple lunch of sliced fruit. They had decided on a sunset wedding at the beach for that same day, but the logistics were still left to be hashed out.

“So, how exactly are we going to get married with just the two of us here?” Katara asked, popping a piece of pineapple into her mouth. 

“Well, I was writing to Aang recently, and he was telling me about how he’s bringing back Air Nomad weddings by marrying the Air Acolytes. From what he had said, the ceremonies are pretty simple because the Air Nomads didn’t really believe in formal marriages. It’s more like a spiritual blessing,” Zuko explained.

Katara raised an eyebrow. “An Air Nomad wedding, huh?”

“Well, we’re already having a Water Tribe and Fire Nation wedding, what’s one more?” Zuko said with a shrug.

Katara snorted. “We’re gonna need Toph to set up an Earth Kingdom wedding too, just to complete the set.” She’s suddenly struck with a vision of Toph surrounded by wedding planners and caterers bound up in rock, while she yells at them, and Katara shudders. “Actually, on second thought, maybe not,” she added hastily. 

“Let’s not go that far,” Zuko said, having the same thoughts. 

“So, does that mean Aang is coming to officiate?” 

Zuko shook his head. “No. I did ask him, since I knew he’d be able to keep it to himself, but he said he couldn’t. But with Air Nomad weddings, we actually don’t need anyone, just ourselves and some offerings for the spirits.” 

“Really?” Katara asked, tilting her head to the side. A wedding with no officiants or witnesses sounded odd to her, but if it meant avoiding all the spectacle, she’d keep an open mind. “How do you know all of this?”

“Well, when I asked Aang about it, he got _really_ excited about the idea of us having an Air Nomad wedding,” Zuko said, rubbing the back of his neck. “He pretty much wrote out all the steps in a letter, and the meaning of each step. He even sent us a gift, hold on,” Zuko got up from his chair and walked into the sitting room, ostensibly to grab whatever the gift was from the pack he had brought with them. 

When he returned, he held out his hand to Katara, showing her two thin silver rings sitting in his palm. Katara’s eyes widened at the sight. 

“Aang said that exchanging rings is an optional part of the ceremony. He sent me these two rings, they’re the same kind the Acolytes use. I don’t think they’ll fit right, but…” he trailed off, shrugging. 

Katara picked up one of the rings and slid it onto her finger. The ring was much too big for her to wear, but she couldn’t deny there was something beautiful about how delicate and simple the piece of jewelry was. 

“Wow,” she said quietly. “I can’t believe Aang sent these. That’s so kind of him.” 

Zuko hummed in agreement, sitting down again in the seat across from Katara. He twirled the remaining ring between his fingers, watching how the light made the silver glint as it moved. 

“So what do we need?” she asked him. 

“Candles, which we have plenty of here already. Flowers…” he looks up, face scrunching up in thought. “He said we could offer fruit or other food too, if we wanted to.” 

“Alright, let’s go into town and get some flowers, then,” Katara said. She got up to stretch and couldn’t help but let out a yawn. 

Zuko gave her a knowing smirk. “You know, I could take care of the flowers, and you can take a nap if you like. I know someone had their precious sleep interrupted early this morning.” 

Katara rolled her eyes good-naturedly and pushed his shoulder lightly. “Oh, be quiet. If you insist though…” She gave him a wink and made towards the stairs, fully intending to take advantage of his offer. 

She stopped short at the first step and turned back to look at him. “Wake me up as soon as you’re back. I want to look over the instructions Aang sent before we do this.” 

Zuko nodded. “Sweet dreams,” he called out, as she made her way up to the bedrooms. 

— 

Zuko had left Katara to sleep a little bit longer than she had wanted, but he still left her with plenty of time to spare to familiarize herself with Aang’s detailed description of an Air Nomad wedding before they went through with it. 

As Zuko had explained, it was rather simple, and more of a ceremonial offering to the spirits to bless a union rather than an actual formal marriage. They each would recite a prayer, light candles, exchange simple vows and the gifted rings, and then they would officially be husband and wife according to the traditions of the Air Nomads. 

Despite the simplicity, Katara found herself with butterflies in her stomach at the thought of finally having Zuko as her husband. Not knowing that she would be coming to Ember Island for her own wedding, she hadn’t brought any clothes with her. Luckily, there were always spare outfits left around the house, and she decided on a simple, white Fire Nation-style summer dress to be her chosen wedding outfit. She tied half her hair up in a topknot, the rest cascading loose about her shoulders and down her back. 

“Ready?”

Zuko stood leaning against the doorway of the bedroom, dressed in a simple gold tunic and loose pants. His hair was done up similarly to Katara’s, half of it in a topknot and the rest hanging down to his shoulders. His eyes looked her up and down appraisingly, before they met her gaze, a mischievous glimmer to them. 

Katara walked towards him and took his hand.

“I am if you are,” she said, giving him a smile. 

They made their way down the stairs together, Katara stopping in the kitchen to grab the basket of fruit she had prepared as part of their offerings. Before getting changed, they had both set up the flowers on the beach, a collection of bright fire lilies, camellias, dahlias, carnations, and sunflowers. Katara had left the rest to Zuko, so when they both stepped out to make their way onto the beach, she let out a small gasp. 

A trail of lit tea lights led the way to where their flower arrangement stood, which was now surrounded by more tea lights, and candles of various sizes. It was all backlit by the ocean, which was glowing with reflected hues of pink, yellow and orange as the sun began its descent from the sky, framed by wispy clouds. Katara felt her hand being squeezed by Zuko, and she turned to look at him. She felt her heart beating in her throat, in disbelief of the sight in front of her, and the man beside her. He smiled at her reassuringly, and they continued walking before coming to a stop in front of their makeshift altar. 

Katara dropped the basket of fruit in the center, and she and Zuko turned to face each other. He gave her a questioning look, and she nodded. He took out a piece of folded parchment from inside his tunic, and began reciting the prayers, the unfamiliar words sounding a bit clumsy on his tongue, until it was Katara’s turn to ask the spirits above to guide her and Zuko on this new journey they were beginning together. 

When she finished, Zuko let out a shaky breath and then took both of Katara’s hands in his, meeting her gaze head on. 

“Katara,” he started. “I’m so, so lucky to have you by my side, and I’m thankful that now you’ll be there for the rest of our lives. We’re giving an offering to the spirits together, right now, but I thank them every single day that they brought you to me, even if our first meeting wasn’t in the best circumstances…” 

Katara laughed at this, remembering that disastrous day in the South Pole nearly ten years ago. Zuko smiled, and the sheer amount of love in his eyes as he looked at her nearly took her breath away. 

“You’re so kind, and thoughtful, and I just—” he breaks off, his voice thick with emotion. “Sometimes I feel like I don’t even deserve you. I’ve never seen anyone that goes to such lengths to help others as you do. You work so hard to make our world better, even for those who’ve done you wrong in the past… Uh— I know I’m not the best with saying how I feel, but I love you, Katara.” 

“No, Zuko, that was perfect,” she said, and she feels stray tears start to roll down her cheeks. 

“Don’t cry,” he let go of one of her hands and wiped her face, and Katara looked at him and laughed, because there were tears in his eyes, too. 

“I couldn’t ask for a more supportive person to marry, Zuko. I’m so proud of the man you’ve become and I’m so happy I get to call myself your wife now. Even if you’re not always the best at expressing your feelings with words, you show me you care for me every day, with things like this,” she said, gesturing around them. “That’s more than enough for me. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you, too. _So_ much.” 

They had tears streaming down their faces, but were both positively beaming. They stood there a few seconds more, relishing the sight of each other bathed in the golden hues of the last rays of the day’s sunshine, until Katara remembered something, breaking them out of their reverie.

“Oh, we skipped a step. The candles, remember?” 

He nodded, and bent down to pick up two of the tea lights next to them, handing one to her.

Behind the basket of fruit were two unlit pillar candles, and they lit each of them in turn with the tea lights, before putting them down and facing each other again. Then, Zuko took out the two rings from his pocket, motioning for Katara to hold her hand out, and slipped the ring onto her finger. 

They both let out a snort at how comically large the ring was, and then Katara did the same for Zuko, his larger fingers better suited to the size of the ring. They took another pause to let the moment sink in, with the final step completed, they were now husband and wife.

“So, that’s it. We’re married now,” Zuko said with a grin.

Katara grasped at the front of his tunic and pulled him towards her, bringing him down for a heated kiss. Zuko buried a hand in her hair, the other wrapping around her waist to press her body against his. Their lips broke apart a few moments later, both panting lightly.

“Does that mean our honeymoon starts now too?” Katara asked, her eyes half-lidded and her fingers tracing the shell of Zuko’s ear. He shivered, but reluctantly let go of her waist. 

“Right after we clean all of this up,” Zuko said, shrugging a shoulder towards all the flowers and candles. 

“All right, but can I have one more kiss from my husband?” Her blue eyes sparkled, and she smiled cheekily. He couldn’t help but give in to her request. 

* * *

  
  


_Fire Nation — present day_

As the Fire Sage’s speech rolled into its fiftieth minute, the audience long having given up any sense of politeness and now murmuring amongst themselves, Katara found herself thinking back to that day on Ember Island, and was awash with a sense of gratitude. 

In the weeks following their first wedding, she wondered if their elopement was the right decision or not, feeling that perhaps they should have waited to share the occasion with their family and friends. At this moment though, she had absolutely no regrets. The memory of Zuko, surrounded by candles and flowers and painted with the colors of the sunset as they declared their love for each other was hers, and hers alone. She wouldn’t change that for the world. 

She felt Zuko shift beside her, leaning over to whisper in her ear. 

“Third time’s the charm, right?” 

She glanced at him through the corner of her eye. 

“I never did thank you. You know, for Ember Island,” she whispered back. 

He met her eyes with a little smile, held her hand a little tighter, and she knew that was all she needed. 

**Author's Note:**

> any comments, criticisms, suggestions, etc. are always welcome!
> 
> i'm not sure how i feel about this one, but i'm relieved i finally finished it. hope someone out there enjoys this corny mess! 
> 
> air nomad and fire nation ceremonies very very vaguely based on buddhist and shinto weddings, respectively.


End file.
